FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ARLINGTON PARK - PAGE 4

Six-time Arlington Park jockey champion Rene Douglas was hospitalized after Born to Be, his mount in Saturday's Grade III $150,000 Arlington Matron, clipped heels with a horse in front of her just past the top of the stretch and fell on him after he was flung from the saddle. There were unconfirmed reports that Douglas suffered a spinal contusion causing swelling. He lay motionless on the Polytrack for several minutes before he was lifted into the ambulance on a stretcher. "Rene was conscious and able to speak," said Dennis Cooper, Douglas' agent, "but was feeling severe pain in his neck, back, arms and legs, which the doctors said was a good sign because at first, he didn't feel anything.

Jockey Jamie Theriot, whose mount caused the accident that has left fellow rider Rene Douglas under intensive care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital with paralysis in his legs and other serious injuries, has been suspended for 30 days, stewards at Arlington Park announced Monday. The suspension is scheduled to begin May 30 and Theriot has until then to appeal to the Illinois Racing Board. He has returned to Churchill Downs, where he is based, after coming to Arlington to ride in three of Saturday's four major races.

A thoroughbred running in its first race Saturday at Arlington Park was put down after fracturing its rear right tibia, an injury described as rare by one race official. The 2-year-old Easy Strider was destroyed shortly after the first race of the day, making it the 17th racehorse to fatally leg fracture in Arlington Park this year. The horse was the first to have a fatal injury since July 1, said track spokesman Dan Leary. "The vets described it as a rare injury. They usually break their front leg," Leary said Sunday.

Arlington Heights trustees this week moved ahead with a plan to ban smoking from all village restaurants and bars but to exempt Arlington Park and Trackside, a restaurant and off-track betting facility operated by Arlington Park. Village staffers had recommended that smoking in those sites be limited to outdoor areas and specially designated places. But trustees called for an ordinance to make Arlington Park's regulation of indoor smoking what Mayor Arlene Mulder called "a point of trust."

Failure to rebuild Arlington Park racetrack, destroyed in a fire during the summer, would drain an estimated $73.3 million from the state's economy and endanger its $230 million-a-year horse-farming industry, according to the draft of a report to be released this week. "Without speedy action this month by the Illinois General Assembly, Arlington Park will become yet another in a series of Illinois businesses closing or moving to other states," said a briefing paper accompanying the report prepared for the racetrack's owners.

The Breeders' Cup apparently isn't going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for Arlington Park. You can bet on it, based on what Breeders' Cup President D.G. Van Clief Jr. said Sunday during his critique of Saturday's eight-race affair. "I can say one thing with a lot of conviction," said Van Clief. "The Chicago marketplace and Arlington Park definitely have established themselves as a viable host venue for future events." Betting on Saturday's card of eight Breeders' Cup races and three supporting races established a Breeders' Cup record.

Arlington Park officials are taking an $11 million step to address safety concerns after last year's racing meeting during which 22 horses had fatal injuries while running on the dirt track. A new synthetic racing surface that promises to improve track conditions and limit serious injuries was unveiled Thursday in Arlington Heights. "It's a good step, but it's not the last step," Arlington Park President Roy Arnold said. "We're going to continue to find ways to improve the track."

He has walked the shed rows, baptized the babies of stablemen in a barn, said pre-race prayers with riders in the jockeys room and officiated at weddings in the winner's circle. In his jeans and work shirt, Rev. Dave Krueckeberg has been a daily presence at Arlington Park racetrack for 35 years, ministering to the low-wage workers who live and work on the backstretch. But last week, Arlington Park officials turned him away, saying they could no longer allow him unrestricted access to the hot-walkers, feed men and pony boys who make up his unconventional congregation.

As Arlington Park prepares to open Wednesday, marking the first year of its affiliation with Churchill Downs, many are hoping the new relationship will help bring the vaunted Breeders' Cup to the track next year, firmly establishing it as one of the premier racetracks in the world. Throughout the grandstand and grounds Monday, the activity was intense as workers cleaned seats, painted walls and prepared to offer food, drink and racing to thousands for this year's opening. Track officials said the most noticeable physical differences resulting from September's merger are simply the return to the track's original name and the new logo, which incorporates Churchill Downs' twin spires in the design.

When Tony Mitchell was a teenager growing up in "a pretty tough neighborhood" in the English seaside resort city of Brighton in the 1970s, he was dumbfounded to discover an unbroken pony in his family's tiny back yard when he returned home from school one afternoon. Never in Mitchell's wildest dreams did he imagine that pony would start him on a journey that would take him to America, make him into a thoroughbred trainer and give him an Illinois-bred champion like Julie's Prize to run in a race like Saturday's Grade III $100,000 Singapore Plate at Arlington Park.